Croker closure is a mistake

So the IRFU’s time at Croke Park has ended on a somewhat sad note with the defeat by Scotland and the failure to claim the Triple Crown but this disappointment will be nothing compared to what the GAA must be feeling as they look at the accounts.

Since Croke Park finally opened its doors to ‘foreign sports’ back in February 2007 after years of political debate about the issue, it has been a revelation for Irish sport.

The GAA received a massive cash injection thanks to deals done with the IRFU and the FAI as well as any additional gate receipts they took as part of the deal.

The amount the GAA is reportedly to have raised by allowing the use of their stadium is €36million, and this came at a time of financial recession.

It also gave the GAA a use for Croke Park in the winter months when it is rarely used.

If the GAA had not been so stubborn over the past decade, and had they not voted no to a change in ‘Rule 42’ (a rule that only allows GAA sports to be played on GAA grounds) in 2001, then we may have continued to see rugby and soccer played at the country’s best stadium in the future.

The IRFU and FAI were forced to plan the redevelopment of the crumbling Lansdowne Road after the collapse of the Irish governments plan for a national arena and the GAA’s stance on the use of their headquarters.

They spent millions of Euros that could have been reinvested in developing both sports and building a smaller stadium that would be suited to hosting less glamorous internationals, AIB Cup finals,FAI Cup finals, etc.

Instead we will have the Aviva Stadium, no doubt a fine ground, but it’s 50,000 capacity is too big for the above mentioned finals and too small for Six Nations rugby and crucial soccer qualifiers.

In the past four years, rugby in Ireland has grown dramatically in popularity due to the success of the national team, and Croke Park was the venue as Ireland picked up their first Grand Slam in 61 years as Ireland beat France, England and Italy at GAA headquarters in 2009.

The fact that 82,000 people could watch those events obviously helped raise the interest in the game, while also creating a much louder atmosphere. The smaller attendance in the Aviva Stadium will obviously make it more difficult for fans to get to games and what the atmosphere will be like in the redeveloped, and so called ‘spiritual home', remains to be seen.

The same goes for soccer, while it has always been a popular game in Ireland, the move to Croke Park has allowed many more fans experience a competitive home international match rather than just a meaningless friendly when tickets were more easily available at the old Lansdowne Road. Maybe that chance helped young fans to become more proud of their country’s football team and not just the big English clubs they support.

However, it is not the fault of the IRFU or the FAI that this has happened. Some have said more pressure from them on the GAA may have helped to keep Croke Park open to other sports but it would have been too late - the redevelopment had begun, the investment was made and the GAA had made its bed when the success of the move had become apparent.

Obviously, the GAA would have had to vote again on the issue but given the success of the past few years, it is unlikely they would have said no.

The GAA has shot itself in the foot. They may say they have not budgeted for the additional income from international events but the fact of the matter is rugby and soccer internationals created a massive amount of revenue and also indirectly increased the popularity of Gaelic Games.

When fans travelled from different countries to watch their nations do battle with Irish rugby and soccer teams at Croke Park, many returned to visit the stadium’s museum and no doubt grew to appreciate the importance of GAA to Ireland’s culture.

So now when the likes of Kerry, Kilkenny, Cork and Dublin are not bringing the crowds to Croke Park then the GAA will have to turn to Westlife and Bono rather than Brian O’Driscoll and Robbie Keane to keep the money rolling in at Headquarters.

And it’s a shame that they would rather glitzy pop stars swagger in front of Hill 16 rather than Irish sporting heroes competing against the world's best.

Good is not good enough

Last night in Bari Irish fans witnessed a fantastic result for their national team as the Republic picked up a 1-1 draw with World Cup champions Italy, but was it really a good result?

Before the game a point away from home against Italy would be a great result for most nations but when the home side go down to 10 men early in the game (even though it was a ridiculous red card) then it gives you a chance and it’s a chance which should be taken.

Ireland dominated the game from the moment they kicked off after Italy’s goal, yet it took until the 87th minute again they got that much-deserved equaliser .

Everyone seemed happy with the result yet I couldn’t help but feel that we had missed a great chance to cause a real shock.

Don’t get me wrong, I know Ireland are nowhere near the level of Italy but any team with a man less will struggle and we had them on the back foot for at least 70 minutes, yet could only score until the final three minutes.

It’s disappointing in my view as we would have gone top of our World Cup Qualifying group and it would have given us a real chance of automatic qualification, never mind the play-offs.

However, the country was delighted today as we drew with the World Champions. So what? We could have won.

I would see this as two points lost but even Giovanni Trapattoni was happy. It seems things still haven’t changed since Roy Keane’s days in a green shirt.

The Corkman was always agitated by his fellow countrymen’s attitude of ‘we gave it a good effort and did well’.

‘Well’ was never good enough for the fiery midfielder and I echo his sentiments.

Last night proved that attitude still exists even though I thought the experienced Italian manager had filtered it out.

The Republic of Ireland football team have always seemed happy just to be there, to be in Italy playing the World Champions seemed good enough, just as it does every time we get to a World Cup.

With a 10 men Italy and us dominating the game with the majority of the possession, nothing but three points and moving to the top of the group should have been satisfying.

We saw what happened when Keane stood up against this mentality so I doubt anyone else will dare, let’s just hope the dropped points doesn’t hamper our qualification chances.